Supreme Court Reserves Decision on Ontario’s International Poker Liquidity Plan
The Oct. 7 hearing focused on whether Ontario can keep control of its own players while linking them to opponents outside Canada.
The Supreme Court of Canada heard arguments Oct. 7 over whether Ontario can link provincially regulated online games with players outside Canada, a decision that could determine whether regulated poker sites can eventually share tables and tournaments internationally. The court reserved its decision, and the hearing itself did not authorize international games to launch.
As reported in our Oct. 7 coverage, the appeal, file 42141, is from the Court of Appeal for Ontario and arises from a reference under section 8 of Ontario’s Courts of Justice Act.
At issue is the meaning of “in that province” in section 207(1)(a) of the Criminal Code. The provision creates an exception to the general prohibition on gaming for provincially conducted and managed lottery schemes.
The appellants are Atlantic Lottery Corporation, British Columbia Lottery Corporation, Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries Corporation and Loto-Québec. They argue that the Criminal Code does not allow a province to conduct a lottery scheme in another province without authorization, or to run foreign lotteries that it cannot control.
Atlantic Lottery Corporation represents Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador. Its position is that Ontario players would enter the same virtual tables, pools and rules as international players, and that Ontario’s proposed pooled games would also encompass Canadians outside Ontario.
Ontario’s planned model, by contrast, would allow Ontarians to play on regulated Ontario websites while participants abroad use separate international sites. Flutter Entertainment, an intervener, argued that Ontario can lawfully retain control over its own participants while linking them to people outside Canada.
Flutter said geofencing and contractual arrangements could keep players from other Canadian provinces off linked international sites, while Ontario could tailor game offerings to do the same. Its factum says such interaction would increase available funds, interest in regulated games and provincial revenue. The Attorney General of Alberta is also an intervener; Alberta’s participation reflects its interest in retaining the option to share liquidity with Ontario and international jurisdictions.
The Court of Appeal for Ontario upheld the proposal 4-1 on Nov. 12, 2025. It concluded that Ontario could meet the Criminal Code’s conduct-and-manage requirement by retaining regulatory oversight and operational control over Ontario-based players.
Poker is particularly exposed to the outcome because it relies heavily on player liquidity. Ontario’s regulated market has been ring-fenced since it launched in April 2022, limiting play to people physically located in the province. Larger networks can support more frequent games and bigger prize pools.
For scale, iGaming Ontario reported C$122 million in peer-to-peer poker wagers and C$5.6 million in poker revenue for August. Those unaudited figures exclude OLG’s online offering. The broader iGaming Ontario report recorded C$843 million in wagers and C$54.4 million in non-adjusted gross gaming revenue.
Ontario’s existing regulated market remains open while the province awaits the Supreme Court’s ruling.
